We all have seen at one time or
another, televised footage of people from Third World countries,
dying of starvation. It is heartbreaking to see older children
resembling stick-figures, with flies crawling over their drawn faces,
having to be carried like babies, because they don’t have enough
strength to walk.

Lately, I have pictured the Body of
Christ in a similar condition. Having been a pastor of my own church
for a time, and assisted in others, I feel I have an insight to the
problem. I have noticed a gradual watering down of the Word of God,
and our people are perishing from lack of knowledge. In BC 785, Hosea
wrote about how God saw that was also happening then and He blamed
the Priests for it, and promised strong punishment for their sin
(Hosea 4:6)!

The preachers of old, like Billy
Sunday, preached the “Hellfire and Brimstone” message. People ran
to the altar, if no other reason than to escape Hell! Ministers
seldom preach it today, yet I’ve been told that Hell is mentioned
more often in the Bible than Heaven. I recently heard a Brother on a
Christian talk show telling of the book he wrote called “23 Minutes
in Hell”. He told of the total hopelessness and darkness that
engulfed him, yet flames tormented him. He said he could hear the
screams of others, but could not see them. It was so real that he had
no clue he was having a vision, until his wife heard him screaming,
jumped out of bed, and went looking for him at 3:23 in the morning.
It took him a long time to get over the terror of the experience.
Hell is a REAL place.

One of the last legends of the pure
Gospel message, Billy Graham, is now quite elderly and there is not a
person in America, nor the rest of the world, that doesn’t know
what a godly example he has been to multitudes. Dr. Graham has
preached the old fashioned message of salvation by grace through
Jesus Christ his entire life, and has been a living example of that
message. Contrary to some of today’s clergy, there has not been
even a hint of scandal around that dear servant of God.

It seems to me that our “last
days” pastors are serving up an extremely watered down gospel, for
the sake of numbers and/or political correctness. Professional
shepherds feel the pressure from headquarters, to keep the attendance
up since it not only looks good to see a lot of cars in the parking
lot, but begets greater offerings, of which headquarters gets a
percentage. Jesus gave no heed to either. He rather kept the
established religion in an uproar by speaking the truth.

Giving to the Lord out of love and
obedience has turned into a “giving to get” message, which is
often supplemented with chicken dinners, car washes, and flea market
sales. Coffee and donuts are usually served in the lobby between the
Sunday School and Church services, and NOT because the people have
come to church fasting! We didn’t use those gimmicks in the early
days. The pastors just taught tithing and Paul’s gospel of sowing
and reaping (Malachi 3:10; 2 Cor. 9:6, 7)!

I have noticed that most of today’s
pastors are college graduates, with other degrees, such as in
psychology and counseling. The ministry has become, in some cases, a
career rather that a “Calling” and appropriate salaries are
expected. Some pastors live much “higher on the hog” than their
congregation and are so busy with their extra activities that they
spend very little quiet time with the Lord. A number of our ministers
seldom have a routine prayer and study time. There are not that many
who get up before dawn to seek Jesus before the day begins, like the
old timers used to do!

Some ministers have side jobs
working with the public and gain extra income by performing weddings
and funerals. If a pastor makes some extra money on the side, that is
okay with me, because some serve in small churches, and have families
to raise. However, it puts a greater burden on him, as it takes him
away from his congregational duties. In these cases, it is such a
blessing if there are elders and prayer partners available in
emergency situations.

Obviously, I also know pastors who
are doing their job as God would have them to do it. The shepherds
must lead their sheep by example, and I have had the privilege of
knowing several who do!

Even though I retired three years
ago due to health reasons, I attend church as often as possible. My
pastor is quite younger than I am, but he preaches the old fashioned
Gospel of how to live our personal lives as unto the Lord. We hear a
lot of prophecy theories across the pulpit these days, but few teach
on living Christ-like in our everyday lives. I love to learn about
the future just like everyone else, and even teach from the books of
the Prophets, but I NEED to be reminded how to live as a Christian on
a day to day basis! I miss seeing the old WWJD (What Would Jesus Do)
bracelets the teens used to wear, back in the days when we sought to
pattern our lives after Christ’s example as best we could.

We have some hirelings today, rather
than true shepherds, and I have met a few. God gave me a vision,
before I became a minister, as I was sitting in church one Sunday
morning. I saw sheep lined down the aisle for prayer, and the pastor
was standing in front of the altar laying hands on them. They walked
on their hind legs like men, and were in different abused conditions.
Some were walking on crutches, others had black eyes, casts on their
legs, arms in slings, or bandages around their heads. Several were
almost naked and bleeding from being fleeced too close to the skin.
Their afflictions had been caused by hirelings posing as shepherds!
Hirelings don’t give to the sheep, but rather abuse and even take
from them. The true shepherds give their lives for the sheep (John
10:13-15). That particular minister who was praying for the sheep
that day was a true shepherd, and has since gone to his reward!

Jesus said that He was the Door,
(John 10:7) and the people of His day understood what He meant and
all it entailed. When the shepherd had to abide in the fields
overnight, certain precautions had to be taken. After grazing all
day, the sheep were moved to different pastures, as the grass was
consumed. In late afternoon, the shepherd had to prepare for the
sheep to be bedded down for the night. He would drive them against a
hillside, and begin cutting down thorny brush to fashion an
enclosure. He made the three sides and then a roof over all, lest any
beast would jump down from the top of the hill, to devour the sheep.
Lastly, he laid himself down in the opening, for the night. The
shepherd was the door, and anything that wanted to harm the sheep had
to go through HIM!

The shepherd would lay down his life
for his sheep…but a hireling would run away rather than fight to
protect them, because they were not his! He had nothing invested in
them…tending sheep was just a job to him. He did not know their
names nor did they know his voice.

My upset is with the hireling
mentality, and their lack of dedication to the sheep (John 10:3-4).

Pastors are called to preach the
complete Word of God. Salvation is the first step, as it is the new
birth of the individual soul. We must feed these newborns the sincere
milk of the Word, and carefully aid them in their continued growth
and development. We are building an army of God, and there is basic
training, and a lifetime of follow-up work to be done. We must teach
people how to love God and each other! The Bible says to love God
with all our hearts, and our neighbors as ourselves, (Matt.
22:37-39).

The Leadership must lead by example,
lest there be a disrespect of pastors, musicians, elders, and
teachers. There seems to be a revolving door on our churches today.
Members and even pastors come and go, as there is so much division.
There seems a lack of discipline in the church which extends into the
family, resulting in lack of respect for God, the clergy, and one
another. Apparently in this day and age, ministers have to teach the
parents to teach their children how to behave in God’s house!
Because iniquity (lawlessness) shall abound, the love of many shall
wax cold (Matt. 24:12), not only for each other, but for almighty
God. I have noticed that the reverential fear of God has almost
disappeared in this Age of Grace. Grace is a precious gift that our
Jesus died to give us, and should never be used as an excuse for
disrespect! We have quit teaching holiness, confusing Grace with an
‘anything goes’ attitude toward Christianity.

I mention gossip from time to time
in my writings because it comes up every once in awhile, and is a
particular pet peeve of mine!Gossip
is a very subtle sin that can do great damage in: families, school,
the workplace, and especially in the church. We think it is a small
sin compared to the things mankind does to each other and certainly
what we do to God, but we cannot underestimate the evil of gossip.
The Bible tells us it is the little foxes that spoil the vine (Song
of Sol. 2:15); the words of a talebearer wound deeply (Prov. 18:6-8);
and life and death is in power of tongue (Prov. 18:21). James 3 talks
a lot about the tongue as well as many other Scriptures.

Psalms 1:1 speaks about sitting in
the seat of the scornful. When I was in Bible school, the teacher
told us of his own experience, as he taught that passage of
Scripture. Several years earlier, he’d had a dream that he was
sitting on a park bench one lovely afternoon. By and by, a young lady
sat down on another bench opposite him. He noticed that she was a
pleasant looking woman, well groomed, and of a gentle countenance. It
wasn’t long until another woman came by and sat down beside him. In
a few minutes, she began whispering into his ear. He didn’t know
exactly what she said, but only saw the results. As she continued
whispering, the nice looking lady on the opposite bench started
changing right before his eyes! Her face became distorted, her body
was gnarled, her hair turned into a rat’s nest, as she changed into
an evil looking old crone, before the whisperer got up and walked
away! This is how gossip works. You meet someone and think they are a
nice person, until you hear gossip about them and they become
undesirable in your eyes. You have sat in the seat of the scornful! I
told a pastor I was working with at the time, “This church is
either going to gossip or grow, but we can’t do both”. He
heartily agreed and went right back to his conversation, which was
gossiping! Sometimes a sin becomes such a way of life, we no longer
see it as sin. (That church never did grow)!

More churches are closing rather
than growing, these days. Mostly, the sheep just wander around from
sheepfold to sheepfold, trying to find a decent meal! Shepherds are
just swapping sheep! The ministers have stopped teaching the basic
fundamentals of living the Christian life!

If we don’t get back to the milk
of the Word, there is no hope of graduating to a diet filled with
meat. The Apostle Paul faced a similar dilemma (1 Cor. 3:1-3). Our
carnal state prevents spiritual growth, and so many of our leaders
are as immature as their congregation! Paul said that “even though
there may be ten thousand instructors in Christ, there are not many
fathers”, (1 Cor. 4:15). In his day, the leaders did not sit in
offices, but were usually in and out of prison, as the apostles were
under constant persecution. I have to laugh a bit at a joke I heard.
“If you were arrested for being a Christian, would there be enough
evidence to convict you”? Sobering!

Please PRAY for our ministers…we
all will benefit…Amen!

God Bless You All,

Pastor Moser

May, 2010

L. O. L.

(Instead of posting the usual WOW
(word of wisdom), I felt in need of a LOL (laugh out loud). Since I
have been stepping on the Leadership’s toes in this article, it is
only fitting that I end with a positive note in the form of a joke)!

“A Catholic, a Baptist, and a
Pentecostal died at the same time. When they got to Heaven there was
no room at the moment. St. Peter asked them if they would mind
spending the night in Hell till preparations could be made. It wasn’t
very long before the devil called St. Peter and said, “You gotta
get these guys outta here”! St. Peter said “Why? What’s wrong?”
The devil replied, “The Catholic is forgiving everybody, The
Baptist is saving everybody, and the Pentecostal has raised enough
money to air-condition the place”!

The Pastor's Desk

Re: Previous Website

The Home Place Mission had a former site and the time came where we had to switch web site hosts. Our email had to be changed as well. In transferring the articles over, every effort was made to correct any inferences to the old email address (the new one is on the home page). Also, all articles containing hyper links were needing updated too. Please forgive us if some things may have been overlooked. Because this page is in a blog format, the date we transferred each article over is what shows under the title when opened. The correct date each article was written is beside the title under the category column. We apologize for the blog format, as it is not as "user-friendly" as our old site but we do hope you find the articles encouraging and are blessed by the insights shared! Thank you for reading!